“Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign, and act wisely, and shall execute justice, and judgment in the earth.  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in security, and this is the name by which the Eternal shall call him, our righteousness."# [Heb.] The same is mentioned in chap. xxx. 8, 9.  “And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will break his yoke from off his neck, and his bands will I burst asunder, and strangers shall no more exact service of him.  But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up for (or to) them. * * * The voice of joy, and the voice of mirth, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say.  Praise ye the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is gracious, for his mercy endureth for ever, of them that bring praise to the house of the Lord.  Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, yet again shall there be in this place that is desolate (Jerusalem and Palestine,) without man and beast, and in all the cities thereof, an habitation of shepherds folding sheep, in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem. * * * Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the good thing which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel, and concerning the house of Judah.  In those days, and at that time, [he that readeth, let him observe] I will came to grow up of the line of David a branch of righteousness, and he shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.  In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem, shall dwell securely, and this is he whom the Lord shall call—­’our righteousness.’ [Heb.] Surely, thus saith the Lord, there shall not be a failure in the line of David, one to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, neither shall there be a failure in the line of the Priests, the Levites, of one to offer before me burnt offerings, and to perform sacrifice continually.”  See ch. xxxiiii. 14.  In this place, the perpetuity of the tribe of Levi, as well as that of the house of David, is foretold.  See also Jer. ch. xxx. 9.

Contemporary with Jeremiah was Ezekiel.  He likewise describes this happy state of the Israelites under a king of the name of David, chap. xxxiv. 22.

“Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey:  and I will judge between cattle, and cattle.  And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and be shall feed them, even my servant David:  he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a Prince among them.  I the Lord have spoken it.  And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in’ the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.  And I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in the season:  there shall be showers of blessing.  And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit; and the earth shall yield her increase; and they shall be safe in their land; and shall know that I am the Lord, &c.”